Sabbir Hossain

Just as Diego Maradona would single-handedly win the World Cup for Argentina in 1986, Garrincha had achieved that very feat for Brazil 24 years earlier.

For the Netherlands, it was a golden opportunity to banish the ghosts of back-to-back final defeats in 1974 and 1978

The true beauty of the World Cup lies in its unpredictability, where the astonishing rise of an underdog leaves an indelible mark on the hearts of football romantics.

Football history remembers certain matches for breathtaking goals, dramatic comebacks, or unforgettable spectacle. Yet there are also games that survive in memory for an entirely different reason — as stains upon the sport itself.

Securing a place in the FIFA World Cup finals is usually a long, exhausting, and nerve-racking battle for any national team. Only after years of qualifying campaigns, intricate points-table calculations, and heart-pounding permutations does a team finally earn its ticket to football’s grandest stage.

To fully grasp the story, we must return to 1994. In the Rose Bowl in California, when Italy’s Roberto Baggio missed his penalty

Thierry Henry, Andres Iniesta, Kaka, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, or Wayne Rooney -- before the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, many of these stars were on the list of potential Golden Ball winners. Amid this constellation of talent, the name of an experienced Uruguayan striker was barely mentioned.

Across club football, he played 710 matches and scored 335 goals. In international football, he netted 31 times in 75 appearances for Argentina in their iconic sky-blue and white jersey. The one behind the numbers is Gonzalo Higuain, who lit up the pitch for European heavyweights like Real Madrid, Napoli, Juventus, Chelsea and AC Milan for years.